Direct-acting hydraulic elevators have generally been used for the transport of heavy goods, for which purpose they are well suited. Their rated loads are many times or even several tens of times higher than those of hydraulic passenger elevators. Direct-acting hydraulic elevators generally do not need a safety gear for the stopping of uncontrolled fall of the elevator car because the hydraulic cylinders are provided with throttles limiting the outflow of the hydraulic fluid so that the speed of the elevator car cannot exceed a safe value. Thus, the elevator car descends slowly along the shaft to the lowest position of its travel. The problem with these elevators is not the danger of the elevator car falling down, but a situation where the elevator car drifts slowly downwards from the door zone, so that the threshold between the floor of the elevator car and the landing floor becomes too high. There are many reasons for this slow drift. A common case is one in which the hydraulic fluid for some reason gradually "leaks" out of the lifting cylinder, with the result that, if the elevator is not used for a long period, the car drifts downwards from the floor level. To prevent this downward drift, the elevator car is provided with arresters or other gripping devices designed to prevent the car from moving down from the floor level. These devices for preventing downward drift must be of a strong design as they have to withstand the possibly unevenly distributed strain imposed by the load and also the changes of load resulting from the loading or unloading of the car. As arresters like this are rigidly fixed to the elevator car, their use for the stopping of the elevator from full speed cannot be considered a good solution because of the fairly high deceleration occurring in these cases.